Elizabeth Freeman

Elizabeth "Mum Bett" Freeman (1744-28 December 1829) was an African-American woman who was the first to win freedom in a Massachusetts court following a 1781 court case.

Biography
Elizabeth Freeman was born into slavery in Claverack, Province of New York in 1744, and she was later traded to a family in Massachusetts. Although illiterate, she was highly spirited and individualistic. In 1781, she decided to sue for her freedom, basing her case on the just-passed state constitution that all men were born free and equal. She won her freedom, and she died in Stockbridge, Massachusetts in 1829.